Dayton,Ohio -More than 1,100 claims seeking about $2.3 million in compensation have been filed against an Ohio gift certificate company that filed for bankruptcy in April. CertifiChecks Inc. sold gift certificates to thousands of businesses and individuals nationwide. The certificates — worth anywhere from $5 to $100 or more — were popular with chambers of commerce that sold them to the public to promote local restaurants and retailers. Tuesday was the deadline for seeking compensation from the Dayton-based company, which closed Feb. 26 and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy April 13. A total of 1,167 claims had been filed as of last Friday, according to the court-appointed trustee. About $279,000 is currently available to pay the claims and administrative costs. Declining sales, a long-standing policy of honoring expired gift certificates and a rush by the public to redeem certificates amid a deteriorating economy led to the failure, said Steven Buchholz, the company's founder and president. The company stopped honoring expired gift certificates in the spring of 2008, but not before allowing $3 million worth to be redeemed in the two previous years, Buchholz said. He said that the company would still be in business if it had been firm in 2004 and 2005 about not honoring expired certificates. Sales fell in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the rush to redeem gift certificates cost the company a major source of revenue. "Just look around," Buchholz said. "We were a casualty of the great recession."